Fork with embedded support

ABSTRACT

A fork is provided. The fork includes a fork handle made of silicone. The fork also includes a fork head made of the silicone and integrally formed with the fork handle. The fork further includes an embedded support disposed inside the fork head and extending into the fork handle, a length of the embedded support being less than about 35% of a full length of the fork. The embedded support is made of a material having a strength greater than the silicone.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. provisional application No. 63/077,847, filed on Sep. 14, 2020, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to food utensils and, more specifically, to a fork with an embedded support.

BACKGROUND

Safety has always been the number one priority when the inventors of the present application develop baby products. Conventional plastic/steel baby utensils, especially baby forks, are either not high heat resistant or not soft/bendable enough to prevent injury. The tip of a conventional baby fork is typically made of either hard plastics or stainless steel in order for it to pick up food effectively, but that might hurt baby's gums or teeth when eating. Therefore, there is a need for an improved fork.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

Consistent with an aspect of the present disclosure, a fork is provided. The fork includes a fork handle made of silicone. The fork also includes a fork head made of the silicone and integrally formed with the fork handle. The fork further includes an embedded support disposed inside the fork head and extending into the fork handle, a length of the embedded support being less than about 35% of a full length of the fork. The embedded support is made of a material having a strength greater than the silicone.

Other aspects of the present disclosure can be understood by those skilled in the art in light of the description, the claims, and the drawings of the present disclosure. The foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following drawings are provided for illustrative purposes according to various disclosed embodiments and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic front perspective view of a fork with an embedded support, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates another schematic front perspective view of the fork of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic back perspective view of the fork of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates another schematic front perspective view of the fork of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic side perspective view of the fork of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates a front elevation view of the fork of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 illustrates a back elevation view of the fork of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 illustrates a left side elevation view of the fork of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 illustrates a right side elevation view of the fork of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 illustrates a top view of the fork of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 illustrates a bottom view of the fork of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments consistent with the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are merely examples for illustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or similar parts, and a detailed description thereof may be omitted.

The present disclosure provides a fork that can embrace functionality, durability, and safety, especially for use by a baby or small child. Here, the term “baby” is used to refer to small children in general, such as those of 0-4 years old. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a fork 100 with an embedded support, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The fork 100 may be made of a food grade silicone, which is safe for use to feed food to infants and small children. The fork 100 may include a longitudinal fork handle 105, a base 110, and a fork head 115.

The fork head 115 may include a plurality of (e.g., 4) tines 120, and a palm 130, which are also made of silicone. The length of the longest tine may be L1, and the longitudinal length of the palm 130 may be L2. Unlike a conventional fork where L1 is much larger than L2, in the fork 100, L1 and L2 are of similar size. The entire fork head 115 resembles a hand of a human being, such as a baby's hand. The palm 130 may be depressed at its central portion. That is, the front surface of the palm 130 shown in FIG. 1 may have a concaved shape. Food may be contained in the palm 130. Thus, the fork 100 may function both as a fork and a spoon. The fork head 115 and the fork handle 105 may be integrally formed as a single piece made of silicone.

An embedded support 135 may be disposed inside the body of the fork 100. The embedded support 135 may have a shape that substantially matches the shape of the fork head 115. That is, the embedded support 135 may include a plurality of tip portions 120′ that are located inside the corresponding tines 120 that are made of silicone, and a plate 130′ inside the palm 130 that is made of silicone. The embedded support 135 is configured to provide support to the tines 120 and the palm 130, because the silicone material that is used to fabricate the tines 120 and the palm 130 may not be sufficiently strong to provide the fork functionality. The material used to fabricate the embedded support 135 may be any suitable material that is stronger than the silicone used to fabricate the rest of the fork 100. In some embodiments, the size of the embedded support 135 may be slightly smaller than the fork head 115. For example, the size of each tip portion 120′ may be slightly smaller than the size of each tine 120, and the size of the plate 130′ may be smaller than the size of the palm 130. In some embodiments, the embedded support 135 may extend into the fork handle 105. For example, the embedded support 135 may extend into ¼ length, ⅓ length, or ½ length of the fork handle 105. In some embodiments, the entire length of the embedded support 135 may be about 25%-35% of the entire length of the fork 100. In some embodiments, the entire length of the embedded support 135 may be about 10%-15%, 15%-20%, 20%-25%, 25%-30%, 30%-35%, 35%-40%, 40%-45%, 45%-50%, 50%-55%, 55%-60%, 60%-65%, or 65%-70% of the entire length of the fork 100. In some embodiments, the entire length of the embedded support 135 may be about 70%-75%, 75%-80%, 80%-85%, 85%-90%, 90%-95%, or 95%-100% of the entire length of the fork 100. In some embodiments, the entire length of the embedded support 135 may be less than about 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, or 100% of the full length of the fork 100. In some embodiments, the entire length of the embedded support 135 may be less than about ⅕, ⅖, ⅗, or ⅘ of the full length of the fork 100. In some embodiments, the entire length of the embedded support 135 may be less than about ¼, ½, or ¾ of the full length of the fork 100. In some embodiments, the entire length of the embedded support 135 may be less than about ⅓ or ⅔ of the full length of the fork 100. In some embodiments, the entire length of the embedded support 135 may be about ⅓ of the full length of the fork 100. In some embodiments, the embedded support 135 may not extend to the full length of the fork 100, i.e., the entire length of the embedded support 135 may not be substantially the same as the full length of the fork 100. The percentage of the length of the embedded support 135 relative to the full length of the fork 100 may be any suitable percentage, as long as the length is sufficient for the embedded support 135 to provide a sufficient support to the fork head 115 from inside to provide the fork and/or spoon functionality. The rest of the fork 100 that the embedded support 135 does not extend to remain relatively highly flexible and bendable. In some embodiments, although not shown, the embedded support 135 may extend to substantially the full length of the fork 100.

The embedded support 135 may be made of any suitable hard material, such as plastic, metal (e.g., aluminum, stainless steel), wood, bamboo, etc., or a combination thereof, with a hardness or strength greater than that of the silicone. For example, the embedded support 135 may be made of polybutylene terephthalate (“PBT”), which can sustain heat up to 150° C. The high heat resistance renders it possible to be molded and bonded together with the silicone material during fabrication.

As shown in FIG. 1, the silicone wrapping the embedded support 135 may follow the same (or slightly different) shape as the embedded support 135. Each tip portion 120′ of the embedded support 135 may be entirely wrapped with silicone, forming the corresponding tine 120. For example, FIG. 1 shows that the embedded support 135 includes 4 tip portions 120′ wrapped with silicone to form 4 corresponding tines 120. Each tip portion 120′ is entirely wrapped by silicone inside each tine 120. Thus, the tip portions 120′ of the embedded support 135 are entirely wrapped with a layer of soft, durable silicone, so the wrapped tip portions 120′ (i.e., the tines 120) are smooth and soft at the outside due to the properties of silicone material, but sufficiently hard or strong at inside to provide the fork functionality. Due to the softness of the silicone material, the disclosed fork 100 can avoid teeth and gum injury for babies. The tip portions 120′ of the embedded support 135 are designed to be thin, such that even after the tip portions 120′ are wrapped with silicone to form the tines 120, the entire tines 120 can still provide good fork functionality. The manufacturing process may be specially designed such that the tines 120 of the fork 100 achieve a suitable thickness with fork functionality. In addition, the exterior soft surface of the tines 120 can also avoid accidental injury to a small child when the tines 120 are pressed against any body part of the child.

As shown in FIG. 1, when the embedded support 135 occupies about ⅓ of the full length of the fork 100, the embedded support 135 may extend from the fork head 115 to a portion of the fork handle 105. The remaining majority portion of the fork handle 105 away from the fork head 115 is entirely made of silicone, and does not have an embedded hard structure. Thus, the majority part of the fork handle 105 is soft and bendable. The entire contacting exterior surface of the fork 100, including surfaces contacting a baby's hand, mouth, teeth, gum, etc., is made of 100% food grade silicone, without any hard material such as plastics, which may cause injury to babies. Because all exterior surfaces of the fork 100 and the majority part of the fork 100 are made of silicone, the fork 100 is bendable and flexible. Due to the nature of silicone, the fork 100 is high heat resistant, rendering it suitable to be sterilized, boiled, or washed by a dishwasher.

As shown in FIG. 1, the base 110 includes a concaved inner surface. Thus, when the fork 100 is vertically pressed against a surface, such as a tabletop, the base 110 may deform such that the inner surface is flattened to provide a suction force, enabling the fork 100 to stably stand on the surface.

As shown in FIG. 1 and other figures, a plurality of fine friction lines 188 may be disposed at least on an exterior surface of the fork handle 105. In some embodiments, the friction lines 188 may not be included on the exterior surface of the fork handle 105, and the exterior surface of the fork 100 may be a smooth surface. In some embodiments, the friction lines 188 may be disposed at a portion of the exterior surface of the fork handle 105, or may be disposed at substantially the entire exterior surface of the fork handle 105. The friction lines 188 may extend along the longitudinal body of the fork 100. In some embodiments, the friction lines 188 also extend to the back surface of the fork head 115. The friction lines 188 may be integrally formed with the exterior surface of the fork handle 105 and/or the back surface of the fork head 115 during the fabrication process. The friction lines 188 may provide additional friction when a user's (e.g., a small child's) hand grips the fork 100 while feeding food. The thickness or diameter of the friction lines 188 may be less than 1 mm, less than 0.5 mm, or less than 0.3 mm. Although not shown, in some embodiments, the friction lines 188 may extend in the circumferential direction rather than the longitudinal direction of the exterior surface of the fork handle 105.

In some embodiments, the friction lines 188 may be replaced by one or more friction pads integrally formed with the exterior surface of the fork handle 105. The friction pads may be discrete pads distributed at the exterior surface of the fork handle 105.

FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the front side of the fork 100 without showing the embedded support 135 inside the fork 100. As shown in FIG. 2, the base 110 has a concaved inner surface.

FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of the back side of the fork 100. As shown in FIG. 3, the back exterior surface of the fork head 115 has a curved shape, resembling a hand of a human being.

FIG. 4 shows another perspective view of the front side of the fork 100.

FIG. 5 shows another perspective view of the fork 100.

FIG. 6 is a front elevation view of the fork 100.

FIG. 7 is a back elevation view of the fork 100.

FIG. 8 is a left side elevation view of the fork 100.

FIG. 9 is a right side elevation view of the fork 100.

FIG. 10 is a top view of the fork 100.

FIG. 11 is a bottom view of the fork 100.

The fork of the present disclosure can provide enhanced safety, durability, and functionality over the conventional baby forks available in the current market. The scope of the present disclosure is defined in the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A fork, comprising: a fork handle made of silicone; a fork head made of the silicone and integrally formed with the fork handle; and an embedded support disposed inside the fork head and extending into the fork handle, a length of the embedded support being less than about 35% of a full length of the fork, wherein the embedded support is made of a material having a strength greater than the silicone.
 2. The fork of claim 1, wherein the embedded support extends into a portion of the fork handle for less than one half of a full length of the fork handle.
 3. The fork of claim 1, wherein the length of the embedded support is about 25%-35% of the full length of the fork.
 4. The fork of claim 1, wherein the length of the embedded support is about one third of the full length of the fork.
 5. The fork of claim 1, wherein the material for the embedded support is at least one of a plastic, a metal, a wood, or a bamboo.
 6. The fork of claim 1, wherein the embedded support includes a plurality of tip portions corresponding to a plurality of tines of the fork head.
 7. The fork of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of friction lines disposed at least on an exterior surface of the fork handle for increasing friction when the fork handle is gripped by a user. 